Odaudu makes history, wins 2024 BAL Coach of the Year award

Rivers Hoopers coach, Ogoh Odaudu has been voted the 2024 BAL Coach of the Year after leading the oil rich state team to their first BAL Playoffs appearance.

The 42-year-old coach received the prestigious award a few minutes before the third-place game between Rivers Hoopers and Cape Town Tigers on Saturday at BK Arena in Kigali, Rwanda.

A former point guard for the Nigeria national team, Odaudu has become the first Nigerian to win the BAL Coach of the Year award.

In his first BAL appearance in 2021, Odaudu’s Rivers Hoopers finished 1-2.

Early this month, however, Hoopers took Dakar by storm, winning the 2024 Sahara Conference with a 4-2 mark.

Rivers Hoopers came up short in the semifinal against Libya’s Al Ahly Ly.

Since the award’s inception in 2022, past BAL Coach of Year winners included, Jose Neto (2022) and Mamadou Gueye (2023).